North Korea may launch satellite Apr 13 - 14 - sources

The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 artificial Earth satellite may be carried out by North Korea on April 13 - 14

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PYOANGYANG, April 11 (Itar-Tass) — The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 (Shining Star-3) artificial Earth satellite may be carried out by North Korea on April 13 - 14, Itar-Tass has learnt from well-informed sources. This event is timed to the country’s national holiday - the 100th birth anniversary of the “first and eternal” DPRK President Kim Il Sung.

Director of the North Korean Launch Control Centre Paek Chang Ho told reporters on Wednesday that the fuelling of the Unha-3 (Milky Way-3) launch vehicle is currently underway, and it will soon be ready for launch.

An official of the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Motherland has warned that interception of the satellite, launched for peaceful purposes, “will be regarded as an act of war, which will lead to catastrophic consequences.”

In the run-up to the “important and historic event in the DPRK history,” a conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) was held in the North Korean capital at which its delegates elected Kim Jong Un as the WPK first secretary. The post of the WPK Secretary General was permanently assigned to Kim Jong Il, considering his great services to the Korean nation.

The DPRK marked the 19th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s election to the post of chairman of the National Defence Commission - the country’s supreme body of state authority. Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho stressed that under the leadership of Kim Jong Il the country “has become a powerful military state and a nuclear power.” “Thanks to the efforts of Kim Jong Il North Korea is currently capable of producing and launching satellites,” Ri Yong Ho said.